In the days following the shock dismissal of Thomas Tuchel, in the previous era at Chelsea the expectation would have been to replace one elite coach with another.
The name of Mauricio Pochettino was one quickly touted, even during some of the best runs of the Tuchel era given his balanced expertise in developing young talent and dealing at bigger clubs. He would have probably been the obvious play post-Tuchel, but instead, the new ownership went for the antithesis of the glamour name.
They looked for someone who fitted their cultural needs, someone who would hopefully align with a more collaborative approach in Graham Potter. Part of what was suggested in the aftermath of the appointment was that the new ownership group had been baffled at European football's ability to consistently reward a select group of names with consistent chances at the biggest clubs based on reputation, rather than the fact they had underperformed in their last role.
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That sort of thinking is why the Brighton head coach was appointed at Chelsea. That methodology is continuing with the search for a sporting director and technical director. Chelsea are set to appoint Christopher Vivell as the club's new technical director following his departure from the RB Leipzig, as football.london reported last week. . But the other role of the sporting director had a new name thrown into the hat on Wednesday with Norwich's Stuart Webber.
As first reported by The Athletic, Chelsea have been in talks with Webber, who joined the Norfolk club in 2017 and helped spearhead their return to the Premier League in 2019, doing the same again in 2020. The 38-year-old had previously been sporting director at Huddersfield, another club that gained promotion from the Championship during his tenure.
Webber's relationship with the previous Norwich coach Daniel Farke inspired a 94-point haul in the 2018/19 campaign that led to the Canaries scoring 93 goals and finishing top by five points in the Englisdh second-tier. The summer of 2018 that preceded that season was a period when Webber arguably did his shrewdest work, buying Emi Buendia from Getafe for an undisclosed fee and Teemu Pukki from Brondby on a free.
That duo would provide the basis for an attack that dominated the Championship over two seasons, and in the case of Buendia, gained a significant profit when Aston Villa signed the midfielder for £33m in the summer of 2021. Pukki has netted 82 times in 180 appearances for the club in the four full seasons since his initial move.
Webber certainly has his critics but has done well considering the financial limitations of a club like Norwich, who do not want to stretch their budget to breaking point, potentially jeopardising the club's long-term future.
The talks with Webber represent Chelsea's interest in finding the right candidate profiles, regardless of whether they have worked in a Champions League environment before. That certainly has its merits, and is something Leipzig's Vivell would certainly bring or, more obviously, appoint Micheal Edwards who helped lead the highly successful recruitment strategy at Liverpool that took them to a Champions League and Premier League title in successive years.
But with Edwards there is the barrier of him currently taking a year off, meaning that to get him, Chelsea would likely have to wait till next summer. And it is quite clear Chelsea are already looking to get the wheels in motion for 2023 with the interest in Christopher Nkunku.
Another notable development that continues Todd Boehly's restructuring is the jump to try and appoint Joe Shields from Southampton as the club's new director of recruitment. Shields only left Manchester City for the south coast over this past summer but has quickly impressed in the role, helping to sign midfielder Romeo Lavia from his old club and Armel Bella-Kotchap from Bochum, two players who stood out against Chelsea in the Saints 2-1 win back in August.
Despite the outside perception that Boehly is hellbent on assuming the sporting director role forever, he has publicly expressed his commitment to getting the right people in place, then allowing the operation to run.
Chelsea are looking outside the expected scope of fellow super clubs or those who have exclusively worked in similar circles. Boehly is likely hoping those fresh ideas can avoid the mistakes of the past.
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